Can't get rid of mysterious file on desktop and trash.

[tartansparkle]

I don't quite know how it happened but somehow I ended up with a .exe file on my desktop and I can't trash it. Its a locked file but I have no idea what it is. If I double click the file it says t can't be opened with ColorSync Utility.

I honestly have no idea how it popped up there. There is one of the same file inside the trash can and it won't go away either. I see when I press apple+I I can unlock the file which would allow me to get rid of it, but I am assuming its an important thing to the clockwork of the Mac?

The file has a huge long number and letter name tag and gives no clue away as to what it is. Any suggestions?

 

[Cory Cooper]

If it ends in .exe it's a Windows executable file. It's not needed by your Mac.

Drop it in the Trash and hold the Option key down while you select empty trash. That should get rid of it.

C

 

[tartansparkle]

Well, I assumed it was (by the looks of it) a .exe. It says;

Kind: Unix Executable File


any difference in approach?

 

[bluekatt]

just unlock and trash it
its a .exe file a unix system any unix system including mac os X has NEVER used a .exe file
only ms dos windows and os/2 warp use them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.exe

so you can safley bin it from the sound of it its a norton antivirus virus defintion pack

 

[tartansparkle]

Hey,

I am having some real hassle with this emptying trash stuff. When I attempt to empty the can it comes with a message saying that it is unable to because two files are locked. One of them is named as a piece of artwork I had in a folder but is simply a jpg image and the other file is another one of those long file names with numbers and letters.

I have tried holding Shift and Option whilst trying to delete and also just Option on its own. I can't get my head round this. I don't know where these previous files came from yesterday that I have got rid of and now I can't be done with this. Technically speaking the Mac is still working fine and the trash doesn't really need to be empty obviously for me to use it, but I still feel at odds at this behavior.

What can I do about this. I'm such a novice and I want everything running crisp and proper. Silly wee things like this just confuse me when I don't believe I have done anything to cause it.

 

[bluekatt]

right click the file
click on show info untick the locked box
and check in the owner menu if they have reading and writing permissions if its read only give them read and write permissions so they can be removed

 

[astroiguana]

Well, I assumed it was (by the looks of it) a .exe. It says;

Kind: Unix Executable File


any difference in approach?

How interesting!! I was surfing the web looking for a new front door (remodeling project) and I was visiting unfamiliar sites using google. After visiting a site that had an animated cursor, and then later, looking on my desktop, I noticed an exe file. It had a file name with letters alternating with numbers. When I used "get info" on it, it claimed it was an mpeg file. Well..... having used windows for decades and being a few month old mac user, I suspect that it was a virus that had I been running windows, would have infected my computer. Probably some auto run file. There is a vulnerability that Microsoft just sent out the patch for (I still have a windows box at work). Malware can be run on your computer using this vulnerability if you are running windows, just do a search on animated cursors on the MS site. I put the file into the trash. I emptied the trash.
Funny thing is, I am running firefox as my browser and I thought it would be better protected against this sort of thing. The firefox download box never came up, so it obviously bypassed that. The blurb on this vulnerability said something about hackers starting to use "mpeg" spoof files because people will open and share videos thinking they are safe.
The only thing that seems to be happening now on my computer (without any other explanation) is that occasionally I am getting an error message that the "disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" . Ummmm.... I haven't inserted any disk! The dialog box tells me I can initialize, ignore, eject. I always say "eject" , the dialog box disappears.... everything seems normal. Until it happens again. It has happened 4 times. This last time, I was writing this message!!! nothing more!
I know how to search for malware on my PC at work. How do I check for that on my new macbook pro with intel core2duo? Is there some way to scan for malware? I am running virus scan for MAC for protection. At work, I use adAware. Is there some program like that for MAC?

 

[Kyomii]

There is, at the moment, no spyware threats for the Mac, so no third party program is necessary

As for firefox, the normal solution would be to trash the permissions file, but FF does not seem to have one.

I would therefore recommend doing a search on your hard drive via spotlight for Firefox and then deleting the program via trash. Then repair permissions (important!)

Then download the latest version of FF and install to see if this cures the issue. If not, create a new user account with admin priviledges and install the new version there and see if it starts fine.

If it does, the problem is not a system related issue, but more a user home folder issue, and knowing this can save a lot of time in diagnosing.

 

[astroiguana]

There is, at the moment, no spyware threats for the Mac, so no third party program is necessary

As for firefox, the normal solution would be to trash the permissions file, but FF does not seem to have one.

I would therefore recommend doing a search on your hard drive via spotlight for Firefox and then deleting the program via trash. Then repair permissions (important!)

Then download the latest version of FF and install to see if this cures the issue. If not, create a new user account with admin priviledges and install the new version there and see if it starts fine.

If it does, the problem is not a system related issue, but more a user home folder issue, and knowing this can save a lot of time in diagnosing.

Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to wait a bit longer. As I am a bit unfamiliar with how OSX responds to different things, I overlooked one other possible explanation for the behavior. I had a flash stick in the USB port and realized that it was possible that it was referring to that as the "disk" that could not be read. XP would have called it a "removable drive" and given it a drive letter (like E: or some such thing). I had the flash stick in place after running autoCAD using bootcamp and when I rebooted in OSX, it is possible that the flash stick was bumped by something on my desk and wasn't seated right. Thus the error message. (I have rebooted in OSX before with the flash in place without any problems.) I noticed that the flash stick did not show up on my desktop or in finder, so I pulled it out and reseated it. It showed up on the desktop. I ejected it (properly) and I haven't gotten the error message since then. Fingers crossed that that was the problem. I don't really want to go through reinstalling firefox and finding all my bookmarks again! Repairing a permissions file as well as understanding exactly what it is still a bit of a mystery to me. Sounds like it is a "user profile" or "ini" type file in Windows-speak?

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

the behavior you have mentioned will be down to the flash disk...

If anyone 'is' struggling to get rid of a stubborn file/folder this thread should help...

regards

Ric